DARWIN MEDALLIST 237 



thanks, but his reception was nothing to the tremendous applause 

 which greeted Huxley in the heart of that University whose 

 cardinal principles he had so long been opposing. Considerable 

 anxiety had been felt by his friends lest his voice should fail to 

 fill the theatre, for it had signally failed during his Romanes 

 Lecture delivered in Oxford the year before, but when Huxley 

 arose, he reminded you of a venerable gladiator returning to the 

 arena after years of absence. He raised his figure and his voice 

 to its full height, and, with one foot turned over the edge of the 

 step, veiled an unmistakable and vigorous protest in the most 

 gracious and dignified speech of thanks." 



The criticism of the President's address is embodied 

 in a leader, " Past and Present," appearing in Nature 

 (November I, 1894), on the occasion of the semi-jubilee 

 of that periodical's foundation. Huxley also attended 

 and spoke at the Nature Dinner, arranged in celebration 

 of the anniversary. 



Some time after the death of Darwin a fund had been 

 raised, from which a "Darwin Medal" was biennially 

 awarded by the Royal Society in recognition of biological 

 research. Alfred Russel Wallace was the first recipient, 

 and J. D. Hooker the second. This year the third 

 medal was awarded to Huxley, *' for his researches in 

 biology and his long association with Charles Darwin." 

 Although after the second medal had been given to 

 Hooker, he had expressed a strong opinion to the 

 officials of the Royal Society that in future younger 

 men should be honoured, and not " useless old extinct 

 volcanoes," the appreciation gave great pleasure both to 

 him and his wife, much enhanced by the association in- 

 volved with the joint discoverer of Natural Selection and 

 the chief botanical supporter of Darwinism. His speech 

 on the subject at the Royal Society Anniversary Dinner 

 was a fine piece of oratory, full of vigour and virility, 

 and giving no hint of the end that was so immi- 



